A Different Kind of Coach

In today’s article, Ryan did a paragraph about Coach Monty that really focused on the strategy difference between himself and his two predecessors. However, I want to talk about something else – his general attitude. Watching these three guys on the court is very different – Scott looking calm but annoyed with his arms crossed, Bower yelling and scowling. The thing I like about Monty – he’s usually sitting down, just watching the game. He stands up when his team is on the other end of the court, probably to see what’s going on. He’s not yelling, he’s not looking like a 4 year old in time-out with his arms crossed and looking sad. He looks professional and like a man who’s watching his team, not concerned with yelling at the officials or his players.

I like this quote from Ryan’s piece – “The second unit struggling to start the fourth? Bower or Scott would have inserted Paul and West immediately. Monty calls a time out, talks it over, and sends out the second unit to execute – showing his trust – and execute they did.” The big part of this is the word “trust”. He trusts his guys to execute, call plays, and run his game plan. He doesn’t have to yell defensive assignments, or call out a player while he’s on the court.

I know this is some small observation, but watching all the shots of Williams sitting in his seat hunched over like a fan at home is good to see. He’s watching his men, and talks to them when they need to be talked to -during time outs and in between quarters. When I played, I hated having to listen to a coach yelling while running down court to set up, while trying to drown out the cheers of the crowd. Let the players play – that’s exactly what Monty’s doing.

3 Comments

Perhaps since he’s so close to his playing days, he had those same feelings you describe and remembers them pretty well.

I do like to see a coach blow his top from time to time for pure entertainment value, but I’ll take a cerebral coach any day of the week.

Byron was quiet and gave the impression he was a thinking man’s coach, but I found some of his moves mystifying and his comments about improvement were all about energy and hustle. That’s too vague for me to deal with for weeks on end. I need some specifics. So far, Monty says a bit more in his interviews which tells me he’s really thinking.

Scotts attitude had a lot to do with his playing days. He is so proud of himself and those lakers-showtime-days that he always wanted to show guys how bad they actually are compared to him and his former team. I always hated that arrogance. He has no respect for role players, can’t handle rookies. Bower is no coach at all. I remember Monty as a player and always liked him. He was a great role player. Being a coach is different, but it really doesn’t matter how good of a player you are or have been.